Daniela Raicu appointed associate provost for research

Daniela Raicu will serve as the associate provost for research, effective July 1. A professor in the College of Computing and Digital Media, she has secured nearly $4.5 million in funding throughout her career at DePaul from a variety of internal and external sources, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, Department of Energy and the McArthur Foundation.

Acting Provost Salma Ghanem announced today, June 26, the appointment of Daniela Raicu as the associate provost for research. Raicu is a professor in the College of Computing and Digital Media, director of the DePaul Center for Data Science and founder and co-director of the Medical Informatics Research Laboratory. She will assume her new role on July 1.

“After an extensive internal search, Daniela’s considerable background as a computer scientist and her success in developing internationally recognized research programs made her stand out as an experienced leader in her field,” Ghanem says. “Her commitment to supporting faculty research combined with her dedication to the teacher-scholar model will elevate academic excellence at DePaul. I am grateful for her willingness to serve our university.”

As an associate provost, Raicu will serve as DePaul’s chief research officer. She will be responsible for overseeing faculty research support, the pursuit and management of external grant funding, as well as research integrity and protection, including patents and intellectual property transfer. Forming collaborations across the university and seeking institutional grants that enhance student success will have a high priority.

Raicu joined DePaul’s School of Computing in the College of Computing and Digital Media in 2002. Her areas of research include visual computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and biomedical and health informatics. She has led and managed two research laboratories, founded and directed a research center, developed multiple interdisciplinary research collaborations, and led the establishment of the Upsilon Pi Epsilon honor society chapter in computing disciplines at DePaul. Since 2008 Raicu has been on the UPE Executive Council overseeing hundreds of UPE Chapters across the world and served as its president between 2012-2014.

Raicu has authored more than 150 journal and conference papers in biomedical and health informatics, medical imaging, computer vision, data mining and machine learning. Throughout her career at DePaul, she has secured nearly $4.5 million in funding for CDM from a variety of internal and external sources, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, Department of Energy and the McArthur Foundation.

As the co-director of the Medical Informatics Research Laboratory, which she founded in 2005, Raicu leads research projects in medical imaging, computational biology and neuroscience. For 15 consecutive years, she has secured NSF funding for undergraduate research in medical informatics, a joint program between DePaul and the University of Chicago. Through the MedIX program, more than 120 students from across the country have participated in research experiences – 47% women and 18% first-generation college students. In addition, the students’ work resulted in 12 journal papers and 62 peer-reviewed conference and workshop papers.

“One of my most important accomplishments as a researcher and educator has been to establish a culture of undergraduate research as a standard method of learning,” Raicu says.

Raicu also serves as the co-director for the Intelligent Multimedia Processing Research Laboratory and the director of the DePaul Data Science Center. She has served as a co-chair of the CDM Research Environment and Scholarship committee since 2011 and as a member of the Faculty Council Committee on Research Policies for many years, including as chair from 2013-15. In 2016, Raicu received a St. Louise de Marillac Women of Spirit & Action Award. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Oakland University, a master’s in computer science from Wayne State University and a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Bucharest in Romania.

“For 17 years, I have had the pleasure of serving DePaul as a faculty member, and I am excited to have the opportunity to contribute to the university in new ways as the associate provost for research,” Raicu says. “I believe the university should have a shared vision, where all academic units participate collectively in research and creative activities. I look forward to supporting faculty at all levels as we work collaboratively to strengthen academic excellence and innovation at DePaul even further.”

The Provost’s Office conducted an internal search for the associate provost position. Members of the university community had the opportunity to submit feedback​ regarding each finalist, following a series of open forums held at the end of May. Chaired by Associate Provost GianMario Besana, the search committee included Diana Alfaro, Sandra Bowen, Kelly Chu, Alisia Eckert, Dorothy Kozlowski, Joseph Mikels, Alex Rasin, Margaret Storey and Allison Tirres.

“I appreciate the time and energy all the members of the committee dedicated to this search and thank them for their ongoing commitment to DePaul,” Ghanem says. “As a result of their efforts, DePaul is now gaining an exceptional chief research officer with a proven record of collaborative leadership.”